GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 1 



for both comb aud extracted honey last year 

 averaged up with the prices here, sliowing- 

 that the supply was much less than the de- 

 mand. All markets were steady, and all 

 lots found a ready customer. 



Here in California the dawn of the new 

 year and the new century was heralded by 

 plenteous rains which not only g-ave hopes 

 to the bee-man but to all people. "Now for 

 a good season," was the slogan. Bee-men 

 talked to newspaper workers of the past 

 good seasons, big crops, and what the bees 

 would surely do this year. The reporters 

 g:ot their data mixed, of course, and pub- 

 lished stories about enormous expected 

 yields. Eastern buj'ers and consumers 

 read these stories, repeated in Eastei-n pa- 

 pers, or received the clippings from Califor- 

 nia papers, and reasoned thus: "California 

 is to have a big crop again! Well, we'll 

 wait and see how many cars," and then 

 for self-protection, for fear of low prices, 

 they said: "We'll set our figures at four 

 and five cents a pound here for the Califor- 

 nia crop." 



On good authority I learn that the large 

 confectioners and candy-makers thus agreed. 

 And that was why our local buyers quoted 

 three and four cents, regretting that they 

 could not ofi^er more. 



Then the careless newspaper man g-ot in 

 his deadly' work, reporting 50 tons of honey 

 from 200 colonies when bee-keepers know 

 that it takes 1000 colonies to make 50 tons. 

 The honey-buyers and the general public 

 believed these lurid tales, and the buyers 

 reasoned again: "If bees make honey like 

 that in one locality, what will all Califor- 

 nia produce, for it is a big State?" 



We bee-men know that only a tenth of the 

 area of Southern California yields honey. 

 The general public does not. 



Now all is mixed. The honey - buyer 

 wants the honey, and would buy the whole 

 crop at a price he knows will not go lower. 

 Protection! The bee-man gets scai-ed (I've 

 met himi, and when buyers show up he is 

 overwhelmed with offers and conflicting 

 prices. Bee-men are at once competitors of 

 one and another. Down go prices. Then 

 when the bee-man gets a good offer he says: 

 "I won't sell, for prices are going up." 

 With the next buyer he plays the same 

 g-ame, sells some honey low, and refuses 

 good offers. Protection! 



Whenever California gets a good crop of 

 honey, the small poor lots come tumbling 

 into Los Angeles, crowding the market, and 

 demoralizing prices. These lots may not 

 reach two cars, yet they set a price for the 

 whole crop of 250 carloads. 



In my travels I have noticed the following 

 county variations: In Ventura Co., 5 cents 

 is the holding figure. In Los Angeles Co., 

 AYz cents a pound rules. Inland, through- 

 out Riverside Co., A% cents is the price. 

 Down in San Diego Co. the standard price 

 is 4 cents. 



Why is it thus? "Lack of information." 



Honey-buyers left San PYancisco (nearly 



500 miles north) in August to buy at 5 cents, 



buying several cars in Ventura Co. When 

 they found that 4 '2 cents prevailed at Los 

 Angeles they came on to this city and learn- 

 ed of four-cent honey. They were disgust- 

 ed, and returned to San Francisco to await 

 settled conditions. Then they learned that 

 they could buy cheaper by sta3'ing at home. 

 The world's crop this year is estimated 

 by manj' good authorities as less than last 

 year; and here we are with only half a 

 crop in California, actually cutting prices 

 in two. Why? "Lack of information." 

 But with this crushing blow will the bee- 

 keeper keep informed? Our comb honey, 

 only 25 cars, has all gone at prices two to 

 five cents per pound less than it would 

 bring now ! 



Organizing bee-men is a big job. Simple 

 organization would help. Setting a price 

 would advance figures. Co-operation would 

 steady the market. Protecting buyers 

 against low prices would stimulate a de- 

 mand. Management would compel a better 

 product. Advertising would make new 

 markets. An association would make one 

 seller in place of many. The bee-man stops 

 to think. He says to himself: "Where is 

 the benefit? " " Will my neighbor reap the 

 benefit too?" "Can I market my own hon- 

 ey?'' Then he says to others: "The bee- 

 men must run an association if we have 

 one," or, "I won't go in if so and so do." 

 And there is a lot more of selfish reasoning. 

 Now I say to the bee-men, do not stop to 

 quibble and question. Join your associa- 

 tion. You can not be worse off than you 

 are now. With half a small crop still on 

 hand, prospects for a good year ahead, with 

 plenty of bees, three-cent honey in sight, 

 surely you could not be worse oft". 



Careful management in the hands of men 

 who have the business and mercantile inter- 

 ests of California at heart, who have built 

 up their own business, who buy your hone3\ 

 they are interested in seeing the crop bring 

 a high fig^ure, for does it not return to them 

 in 3'our increased trade in merchandise? 



Be not afraid of the buyer. Protect him 

 and yourself, and he can show you prices, 

 an increased industr3', a marketing of the 

 crop before it is ready, and thus a happy 

 united brotherhood of honey producers. 

 Los Angeles, Cal., Oct. 9. 



[There is a great deal of truth and hard 

 sense in this article, and our California 

 readers will do well to give it careful con- 

 sideration. While the buyer, a man who is 

 influenced solely by the almight^^ dollar, 

 and who, as you say, against the interests 

 of the bee-keeper is anxious to depress the 

 market, there is a lot of bee-keepers who 

 can not take a bee-journal because they 

 think they know it all. Something ought 

 to be done by which the bee-keepers of Cal- 

 ifornia could scatter information at the right 

 time throughout the whole State. There is 

 no reason in the world why extracted honey 

 in California should have sold for less than 

 5 cents, and it certainly ought to bring as 

 much as that now, or more. Our own read- 



